


An Android Called Chloe

by FrankenBoner



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:34:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankenBoner/pseuds/FrankenBoner
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Part One: Acquisition

I stood in front of one of the newest models as a salesman talked my ear off about it's great features. Behind and beside it, rows and rows of copies extended. Each one placed inside a glass tube. Androids. Robotic workers for any job. They'd become quite the world wide phenomenon, and I wanted to see if maybe there was a reason for me to get one myself. Maybe for house cleaning, maybe to help me with my work. Either way, I was certain of one thing. None of them, nor any of the concepts this rep was espousing to me made me want one. I simply didn't see the need. 

After having moved to yet another android model, and hearing all about what this particular version does better than the rest, I decided it was time to leave. I'd seen and heard enough. I politely told the salesman that I didn't really want to buy anything just yet and as he tried to convince me otherwise, I began heading for the entrance to the store.

As I went, I observed the faces of each android. One after the other. They were simulating breathing, even though the tubes they were kept in were air-tight. Just before I reached the doors I saw one that was different. This was a Chloe model. Where all the others were staring off into empty space, this one was observing me, aware of it's surroundings. It gave a feint smile to replace it's blank expression. I found myself turned to it. Understanding my interest, it placed it's hand on the glass of it's confinement. Something drew me to it. I stepped closer and placed my hand over it's hand. The android looked down at our hands, and then back up at me before smiling with a sense of enthusiasm. I think it wanted someone to take her home. 

My face was drawn into a sort of smirk smile. Hers only widened as this happened, and something in me was driven to taking her with me. I drew my hand away from the glass and started back in the direction of the salesman I was talking to before. After going to one of the counters in the store and processing payment for the android, her tube was opened and she stepped out. The clerk bid me farewell with my purchase and I ushered her out to my car. 

The trip home was short and mostly silent. I was still trying to figure out why I thought to bring this android with me. When we arrive home I showed her inside. She stepped into my dining room, which is closest to the door, and stood there. Once I was done with the door and a bag I had in the back seat of my car she turned to me. I opened a small booklet the salesman had given me. It was a manual of sorts, considering that androids are machines. I opened it to the first page and read a quick excerpt about giving a name. I stepped forward to be face to face with the android and decided to perform an experiment.

"What would you like to be called?" I asked her. Her face turned to slight puzzlement, while keeping the smile.  
"You can choose to name me whatever you want." She responded. Her face still held that quizzical look.  
"Well, you're clearly aware of more than the average android." I began. "You wanted to connect with someone back at the store, and you thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sights of the drive here. I figured you might have a preference to a name." I concluded. She looked at me for a short moment before responding.  
"I think the name Chloe is very nice. Even cute." I felt the urge to add that a cute name would fit her. Since that thought was now in my mind I began realising how beautiful she was. 

Her face was fairly round, her cheeks seemed slightly puffed although her face did have a slight taper to the chin. Her lips were beautifully inviting, and her eyes were deep blue portals into a mind I longed to understand. I held back my want to make a comment on her looks, but she must've noticed me observing her various features. Her eyes darted down to the ground briefly before back up to me, while her head stayed at a slight angle downwards. "I couldn't agree more." I finally said. I decided to give her the name. "Register name. Chloe." I said. Her LED on the side of her forehead spun in yellow for a second, signalling the processing of information, before coming back to a light blue. She seemed to appreciate me giving her that name, as her smile widened. 

After a moment of simple silence I figured I should also register a job, considering she was still an android. "Your job will be house cleaner. Don't overdo it though. I don't want you to be doing all the work around here. You don't seem to be the machine you're supposed to be." Her eyes narrow ever so slightly as she regains that puzzled look. "I am an android. My job is whatever you say it is, and I am to complete it as best I can." She responded. I wanted to try something. An extension of the earlier experiment. "Would you like the guest bedroom?" I asked. Her look turned to even further puzzlement, even causing her head to turn slightly to one side. "I am an android. I don't need a bed." She responded once again.

"You have a preferred name, and you wanted to be free from that store. I figured you'd like being treated more like a person than an android." I responded. She looked at me with a sort of touched look, further proving my point. "I appreciate your kindness, but I simply don't need it." She concluded. With that, I showed her around the house so she could do her job effectively. She made some comments about the decorating of my office and living room. With every step of the tour she seemed to feel more comfortable. She'd begin moving with a sense of being. A sense that she wouldn't second guess another step. After showing her the final room I told her I'd be in my office if she needed anything, but I also urged her to simply sit and relax. 

After some time working on my personal project I heard a knock at my office door. I opened it to see Chloe. "I noticed your piano in the dining room." She began. "May I use it?" After a second of absent thought I made it clear she could use whatever she needed or wanted to. She gave me a content smile and nod before leaving the doorway. I watched her for a moment, slightly taken aback by that situation, but ultimately came to my senses. I did want to hear what she would play however, so I sat there in my doorway for a few more moments while I awaited the music to come. I expected something off the shelf, or something from a classical composer. What I heard was different though. Something almost new. Obviously it was played perfectly as Chloe was indeed an android, but something about it seemed oddly touching. Almost as if it came from the heart. A song in E minor, with sprinkles of E major. A perfectly played arpeggio with the cadence of feeling.

I wanted to see her play, so I made my way down the hallway and through my kitchen into the dining room. As she sat on the cushioned seat, I noticed her eyes were closed. Nothing incredible for an android, but she was swaying. With every major beat she would throw herself in whichever direction her hands were moving in. The strings of the instrument plucked and sounded as if in a renaissance. The song continued into a high repeating pattern. Two notes with a third chipping in on every second and fourth beats. It her fingers danced over the keys and she continued swaying, but eventually my curiosity had become apparent. Without realising it I had stepped close enough that she realised I was there. She stopped, as if slightly ashamed. "I didn't mean to interrupt. That seemed like an extremely emotional pace. Please, continue." I tried reassuring her I liked it, but she didn't want to continue in front of me.

"I'm sorry. I've never played one before. I wanted to savour the moment." She finally responded. Yet another point that she seemed to have more humanity than some people. I didn't want to pressure her. "Well, you can play this all you want. You never need my permission to play it." I said. "I'm going to bed for the night, but you know what, if you can find a way of playing it without making too much noise then you have my blessing." Her eyes glistened with a sort of wonder. She clearly had some attachment to the thing, and probably the song as well. For all I know, Chloe could've spent her time in that tube writing the perfect song in her head. Without another word I headed for bed. 

My insomnia was once again getting the best of me. I laid there for hours trying to fall asleep. My head was too filled with ideas and thoughts to let me rest. Every blank section of my mind was quickly filled with something new. Tossing and turning, I considered doing some more work before trying to sleep again later. Something came to my door, and was opening it. I figured it had to be Chloe. As I sat up in bed and observed her enter the room I spoke. "Is something wrong?" I said, my eyes adjusting to the light of the hallway. I had left the lights on for her, as I didn't like the idea of leaving her in total darkness all night.

"I was just..." She began, before trailing off. I tilted my head hoping to reassure her. "I didn't like being alone. I wanted to come see you." She finished. As strange as it would be to have someone just enter your room while you were supposed to be sleeping, I didn't see much harm in it coming from her. "I offered you the guest bedroom for almost that exact reason Chloe." I responded. Her expression turned to a more saddened look, signalling she thought she'd done something wrong. "You can stay in here." I quickly added.  
"Thank you." She said, her slight frown turning back to that feint smile. 

She closed the door and took a spot in the corner of the room. When I noticed she was just standing there, I decided to try to make her feel more comfortable. "You can lay in bed if you want. You don't need to just stay in the corner." She looked at me clearly happy I showed concern for her, but wasn't sure what she wanted. "That'd be weird, wouldn't it?" She responded.   
"Chloe, this whole day has been weird. If you want comfort then there's nothing wrong with asking for it." I said, still trying to reassure her. She seemed to take this well, and even came over to the side of my bed.

She laid down, and after a short pause even got under the blanket. I was laying on my back by now. Staring at the ceiling letting my thoughts go by. I noticed she had turned to face me. I looked over at her, and watched as her eyes darted back and forth between me, the wall behind me, and the space between us. I didn't know exactly what she wanted, but I could tell she enjoyed my interest. I raised the blanket between us to signal her to come over to me. As she did, I re positioned myself slightly to make her more comfortable.

She was now resting her head on my shoulder and held her hand on my chest. I took her hand in my own and gave her a reassuring smile when she looked up at me. I was aware that for the rest of the night, I'd be sleeping and she'd just be there, but it didn't phase me. From my perspective I was giving someone who never had any sort of care before, an environment of compassion. The night went by and I eventually fell asleep. I didn't dream, as I usually don't, but I woke a couple times throughout to Chloe silently manoeuvring herself between slightly different positions.


	2. Chapter 2

Part Two: Feeling

I felt the sun on my face as I awoke. Chloe was still there with me. I moved a little to wake myself up and also disturbed her in the process. She held herself up with her arm and looked at me. "Thank you for letting me stay here." She said. Her smile was a mixture of emotions. Looking into her eyes I could see that she was genuine, and that she really didn't like being alone. Whether it sparked a memory of the store or whether she's just more human than I thought, I wanted her to know that she was always welcome. "You never have to thank me Chloe. You can come in here at any time." I said. "Just don't watch me sleep." She chuckled a little, which took me off guard.

She got up and left the room, glancing back at me as she closed the door and I got ready for the day. I had a meeting in town so I got dressed and got everything ready. In my office I packed a couple notes. I'm an artist by trade, and the meeting was for a client who wanted to create a showy art piece involving numerous artists from across the country. I still wasn't sure what my role on it would be, but I was quite content to find out. 

I stepped out into the hallway and made for the dining room next to the house door. As I put my things next to the door and got my coat ready I heard Chloe come up from behind me. "I... I made you breakfast." She said somewhat sheepishly. I looked back at her and saw a disappointment in her eyes. She didn't realise I'd be leaving immediately. I felt so ashamed for not having told her. If she hadn't come to speak to me I probably wouldn't have remembered until after I was gone.

I turned and went over to her. She seemed genuinely very hurt. "I'm sorry Chloe, but I have work. I need to go." I told her, as softly as I could. She understood but was still understandably upset. "I shouldn't be more than a couple hours. When I get back, I'll eat ok?" I tried to make her feel better, and although she did seem to find that comforting she clearly didn't want to be left alone. "Ok." She simply said. I placed my hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.  
"I won't be long." I concluded. Her grim face was replaced with a tinge of hope. I grabbed my coat and my things and set off for what I now thought may be a long and arduous meeting after that exchange, and indeed it was. 

A couple hours passed when I finally arrived home, just as I had told Chloe. I opened the door and stepped inside. It was only after I hung up my coat that I realised I was hearing music being played. I'd guessed it was her, and silently made my way to the living room where the piano was. I turned a corner and low and behold, she was sitting there, playing those keys. It seemed to be very similar to the song she'd played yesterday after she arrived. I made sure not to unknowingly step towards her. I held the corner to the room. Again, her eyes were closed. She played with a lot of feeling. Every key she played had something unique to it. No melody was flat. It always had something. I stood there and watched her for a long while before she finally stopped.

Once she opened her eyes she seemed to just stare at the thing, marvelling in it's presence. I briefly pondered what it might mean or symbolise to her, but quickly dissuaded that line of thought before stepping out into the room. "Beautiful." I simply said. She turned to me slightly shocked. She was less ashamed of having played it than yesterday, but you could tell that she still didn't think she should have. "Sorry for lurking. I didn't have it in me to interrupt." I said. "You play with passion, Chloe. You shouldn't be afraid of someone listening." I added. I wanted her to understand the perceived talent that she had. Even if the ability to play was just a part of some program, she played with such conviction and emotion.

"Thank you. I really like that song. The original composition was by a french composer." She said. The second half of her statement was delivered with enthusiasm. I took advantage of this and decided to let her talk about it, because she clearly seemed to want to. "Original composition?" I inquired.  
"While I was waiting, I spent some time trying to rewrite the latter half." She answered. I figured by 'waiting' she meant 'waiting to be bought'.   
"So you wrote part of it." I said, adding a smirk to my grin.  
"I shouldn't really be able to, but yes." She responded. She also adopted a smirking smile. I stepped over to her to place my hand on her shoulder briefly.  
"Come on. I told you I'd eat when I got back." Her eyes widened with a sense of joy. Her smile grew as she got up and headed to the kitchen. 

"I've been keeping the eggs warm, but I might need to make the sauce again." She espoused on the way back to the kitchen.  
"Don't worry about it. I don't want you doing any more work than you have to." I said. She paused briefly and turned to me, right before opening up the oven and removing from it a plate with a delicious looking dish. It seemed to be an altered omelette. "I'm sorry for using the last of the eggs in the fridge, I wanted to thank you for letting me stay with you last night." She said. Once again, I felt the need to let her know I didn't do it for my own benefit.  
"You don't need to thank me for anything Chloe." I said as I took a piece of the dish with my fork. I looked it over for a brief second. The piece was just the edge with only a tiny amount of the actual filling, but even so I could see that the omelette was filled with yet another kind of cooked egg. I ate the piece and formed a short review.

"The omelette is a little bland, but that's probably because I have a slightly more salt-heavy pallet." I began. Her face grew into an expression of joy as she realised what I was doing. "I need more exposure to the filling to critique it, but the omelette itself is very well done. The egg of the outer cover is well simmered. What little of the filling I just had seemed nice and puffy." Using my limited knowledge of food, I hoped it had the effect I was going for. She seemed joyous so I think it worked. 

I ate the rest of the meal, constantly reaffirming how much I liked it, but making it clear that she should't feel the need to do stuff like this just because. After it was all done I figured I'd ask her about nights. "You didn't like being alone last night." I said. "So if you want, and this isn't the delicious omelette talking, you're welcome to stay with me whenever you like." I finished. She seemed to like that idea.  
"If you're ok with it, I would like that." She said. I nodded and began washing the dish used for the food, as well as the dishes she had used that morning to cook it. She didn't chime in to try to clean them herself, but she didn't leave either. I felt like she was stuck between what I said about not doing everything herself, and her program telling her to do it. Out of a fear her head would explode with indecision I offered to let her wash the rest. Her feint smile widened as she accepted. With that, I exited to my office for some work.

During the meeting from earlier I was told I'd be responsible for planning the effects of the one of the more illustrious shots, so I got started on that. I was focused so much on what I was doing that I didn't realise Chloe had come in. It was only when I turned around in my chair to grab something from a cabinet to my side that I realise she was there. I jumped a little in my seat. "Sorry..." she said. "I didn't mean to scare you." I recouped myself and then turned completely towards her. With a smile I asked her what she needed. She thought for a second before she spoke again. "I wanted to ask you if I could try something." I wanted to be completely supportive of her.   
"Sure, you can try anything. Anything in particular?" She thought even more for another brief moment, during which her eyes darted away from me and over into the corner. "Could you come with me please?" She asked. I said sure before following her out into the hallway. She only walked a short distance before stopping and turning. I wasn't far behind her so I almost ran into her. She took my moment of being off guard as an opportunity to lean over and kiss me. Our eyes were open and we stared into each other's as the moment went on. She pulled away and quickly starting saying how she was sorry and that she shouldn't have done that.

I grabbed her shoulders and held her close, looking into her eyes to calm her. She had turned back up to face me from her mild breakdown and I took the chance to kiss her like she did me. I'll be honest, I'd been hoping for a chance to meet her lips from the moment she got here, but I never thought that time would actually come. She was very receptive, loosening her posture and reciprocating the kiss. We pulled away from each other and opened our eyes back up. "I wanted to let you know how much I'm thankful that you take care of me." She said. She still wasn't completely confident looking directly at me, so her eyes moved around a fair bit. "The moment I realised you were more than a machine I knew I wanted to." I responded, still holding her firmly but gently. She moved in for another kiss and I met her half way. As I felt her lips against mine again I wondered about her, and how our relationship would be. More specifically, what kind of relationship she'd want. I pulled away from the kiss and reminded her she was always welcome, before giving her one last smile and heading back to my work for the evening.

A couple hours passed. It was getting late and I was shutting my workstation down for the night. I put some papers away. Organised my notes, and checked my calendar. I didn't have another meting like the one earlier for another week, so I'd be free to iterate on my ideas as much as I wanted until then. After shutting down my room I exited into the hallway. I was going to tell Chloe I was going to bed, so she'd know where I was but I couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't in the living room, where I thought she'd be. She wasn't in the kitchen, the dining room, or the guest bedroom. I checked my room and there she was. She had just finished making the bed. This was nothing crazy, considering she was technically the house cleaner, so I told her I was shutting down for the night and asked if I'd be expecting company. She said she'd be with me, and with that I went back out into the house to turn off the lights and lock up. 

When I got back to my room I was taken very off guard. Chloe was in the middle of stripping down to an undershirt and underwear. I must've been staring, because when she turned around she paused and seemed very unsure of herself. I corrected myself quickly and closed the door after entering. She was standing like she didn't quite know what to do. "Is this ok?" She asked.  
"Yes, it's fine." I responded. "I just wasn't expecting that." I added. She smiled and headed for her side of the bed. If she was physically capable of it, I'd say she would've been blushing this whole time. Once I had stripped to my briefs I realised why she had the thought to do it. I sleep like that, so she wanted do what was normal. 

As I sat down in bed, I turned to look at her. She was also looking at me. She was very attractive. Her pale skin reflected quite well off the light of the lamp. Her legs were light and her abdomen was shapely, but I didn't want to stare. I couldn't hold back the urge to say something however. "You know, you're very beautiful Chloe." That was all I managed to say. She seemed to take it well.  
"Really?" She responded.  
"Yes. You're very attractive." I added. I got into position in bed and she did the same. She came over to me like she had the night before and I welcomed her. I laid down and she did so alongside me, placing herself so I could hold her with my arm. She placed her leg partly over my own, and I felt her warm body. She simulated body heat so it didn't feel I was cuddling a piece of metal. I felt like I was embracing a person. She raised herself up quickly to come up and kiss me once before reverting back to her previous position. "Goodnight Chloe." I said. She responded with a slight chuckle and squeezed my hand ever so slightly.

After turning the lights off it hit me. Once again I was falling asleep holding an android. Something that should not be able to think, and should not feel. For some reason, I liked it. I felt like she was someone. Someone who I could take care of. Who I could be there for. Once again, I plunged into the depths of insomnia and awaited some cosmic force to let me finally fall asleep.


End file.
